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"We are petitioning for a referendum on the parking exempt zone boundaries,"resident Sue Hobbs told the city commission on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at its meeting. She asked that the commissioners support the right of the citizens to vote on the issue and show that support by signing a petition.

City commissioners approved the parking exempt zone boundaries on Sept. 11 in a 41 vote. Commissioner Chuck Vondra did not vote for the boundaries as drawn, saying he believed it would hurt downtown businesses because of a lack of parking spaces.

The zone boundaries include the proposed One Water Street development. The city's zoning ordinance calls for the creation of 147 parking spaces by the developers of One Water Street, but the city exempted them from having to create about 58 of those spaces.

The zoning ordinance requires developments and businesses to construct a specified number of parking spaces to accommodate a project. The zoning ordinance contains a formula for the number of required parking spaces that is based on the size of the development.

The parking exempt zone is an area where, upon the request of a developer or owner located within the boundaries of the area, the city may approve an exemption to the number of parking spaces required by the ordinance.

If the city allows exemption of spaces for the project, the owners or developers pay a one-time fee to a fund for each parking space they are not required to construct. That fee has not yet been determined by the commissioners. The fees collected would be earmarked for future parking lots the city would create.

Citizens that are opposed to the issue say that not requiring businesses to provide the requisite number of parking spaces will result in too few spaces for shoppers downtown.

But commissioners who voted for the exemption say that the city has more than enough parking downtown.

Following the collection of approximately 550 signatures, Hobbs will submit the petitions to the city and then the petitions will be forwarded to the Charlevoix County Clerk for processing.